A pregnant woman has fled the UK after social services warned they would take her baby into care within 30 minutes of birth.

Experts fear Fran Lyon, who has been treated for mental health problems, could harm the child who is due in five weeks.

But Fran, 22, insists she is now healthy and would never hurt the tot, already called Molly.

Declaring she had no choice but to quit the country to give birth, she said from a secret location: "It's not what I envisaged. But it's taken that stress away.

"They said that I'd be allowed to hold Molly until the cord was cut, then no more physical contact until a social worker was present.

"Within half an hour she'd have to be taken from the delivery suite to special care. If I didn't let them take her, they'd bring police in...

"At least now I can make sure that I can do what's right for Molly. That's the most important factor in any of this."

Social services became involved in July after mum to be Fran, of Hexham, Northumberland, called police to help her deal with an incident involving her ex-partner. It led to her admitting that she had self-harmed at 15, had previously had an eating disorder and had received treatment for a borderline personality disorder.

She tells Trevor McDonald on ITV1 tonight: "By the time I was 18 I was back to being fit and well.

"Harming myself was a way of dealing with how I was feeling. Harming somebody else didn't occur to me."

But Northumberland social services fear Fran could develop Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy - a condition said to lead mums to seek attention by harming their child or by claiming it is ill. Fran says she was given an "abusive" birth plan.

This bans her from breastfeeding because she might ingest poison in a bid to hurt her baby.

But, according to the programme, recent psychiatric assessments say there is no evidence that she will develop Munchausen's by Proxy.

Fran is also happy to be supervised in a mum and baby unit.

Her lawyer William Bache - who successfully defended Angela Cannings against a conviction for murdering her two baby sons - also says he has seen no evidence she might harm her child.

He adds: "We are condemning anybody who has had difficulties in their past not to be able to look after their own children. This seems very sinister."

Northumberland Council said: "We can't comment on individual cases. It's not in the best interests of mother or child to disclose personal details in public."

Tonight with Trevor McDonald at 8pm on ITV1.

Fantasy Bug -Munchausen's syndrome is named after Baron von Munchausen, a fictional character who told tales of imaginary exploits.

First recognised in 1977, it is more formally known as fabricated or induced illness. There are fewer than 20 cases recorded in the UK each year.